Police baton charge Lucknow lawyers

Lucknow, May 15 : Police baton charged lawyers here on Wednesday after they staged a demonstration against the alleged death of a fellow advocate in jail.

S P Awasthi, a lawyer of the Allahabad High Court was imprisoned for a month in a case of contempt of court and had died on Tuesday.

Lawyers claim the police had tortured Awasthi.

Lawyers of the Lucknow Bench of the Allahabad High Court burnt effigies and raised slogans against the Mayawati Government and the jail authorities.

"He was locked up in prison, chained and handcuffed and he died of injuries. Weurnt effigies of the jail authorities and the Uttar Pradesh Government," said Santosh Kumar, an advocate.

Police tried to douse out the burning effigies and dispersed the mob. "These lawyers have been protesting for quite a few days now. When fire officials tried to douse the effigy, the lawyers attacked them. We dispersed the agitated lawyers," said Paritosh Pandey, Superintendent of Police, Lucknow.